Get the Best Return on Investment with Your Next Home Improvement Project

Home is where the heart is, but sometimes it’s also where a homeowner’s savings plan comes into account. Homeowners may have a long wish list of home renovations and projects, and sometimes the work is never done. While return on investment (ROI) may not be the biggest consideration in a homeowner’s mind when deciding which projects make it to the top of the list, knowing which projects see the highest returns may be helpful in the decision-making process.

Happiness in the home can be a part of the ROI, but other cost vs. value factors vary by region and even by room. ROI, as defined in Remodeling’s 2015 Cost vs. Value report, can be broken down as the percentage of the estimated average cost of a renovation project that is projected to be recouped in resale value, as aggregated from real estate and appraisal estimates. Let’s take a look at some of the most common renovation projects and how their ROI breaks down.

According to Huffington Post’s 10 Most Popular Remodeling Projects Across the Country, the most common remodeling job request projects in the United States are in the bathroom. A midrange bathroom addition cost, a complied in Remodeling’s Cost vs. Value report,in 2015 was estimated at $39,578. The ROI was estimated at 57.8 percent. For those needing a bathroom remodel, the cost averaged $16,724 with an ROI of 70 percent. Upscale additions and remodels naturally went up in cost, but the ROI didn’t quite hit the level of a midrange upgrade, with 58 percent and 59.8 percent, respectively. Bathroom remodeling projects that were big in 2015, according to Forbes, included custom vanities, feature floor tiles, bigger showers and plant life.

Kitchen remodel job requests accounted for 69 percent, the second most common in the U.S. Major midrange remodel costs in 2015 averaged at about $56,768 with an ROI of 67.8 percent, while minor remodels saw an ROI of 79.3 percent and a cost of about $19,226. A major upscale remodel could cost upward of $113,097 in 2015, with an ROI at 59 percent. According to My Home Ideas, trends in 2015 included built-in coffee centers, dual-fuel ranges, Italian cooking gadgets, designer dishwashers and wine refrigeration.

Not all projects, of course, are room-centered. Window/door replacement accounted for 44 percent of home remodeling job requests in 2015. This included window replacement, entry door replacement and steel, with ROIs of 72.9 percent, 78.8 percent and 72 percent, respectively. Finished basements also were high on the list, as complied by House Logic, with 27 percent of remodeling job requests. Coming in with an average cost of $65,442 in 2015, the ROI on these projects was 72.8 percent.

Additionally, home remodeling job requests vary by U.S. region. In the East-North Central (Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio), the midrange top five requests include entry door replacements, garage door replacements, manufactured stone veneers, vinyl window replacements and vinyl siding replacements. The upscale top five requests include fiber-cement siding replacements, garage door replacements, vinyl window replacements, foam-backed vinyl siding replacements and wood window replacements. In the East-South Central (Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Tennessee), the midrange top five requests were much of the same, however an upscale request of fiberglass grand entrances made the cut.

Midrange top five requests in the Pacific region (Alaska, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Washington) mirrored New England, along with the South Atlantic (Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, South Carolina, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, D.C., Florida) region and the West North Central (Minnesota, Missouri, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota, Kansas, Nebraska) region.